Blaze Foley, the influential outlaw-country songwriter whose life and death became part of his enduring legend, is being honored with a new tribute album. Sittin’ With Blaze, due out August 7 on Lost Art Records, features covers of the Austin singer-songwriter’s work by Lucy Dacus, Lucinda Williams, Joshua Ray Walker, John Moreland, Lydia Loveless, Phosphorescent, Uncle Lucius, and others.
To mark the announcement, the album has been introduced with two tracks: Phosphorescent’s haunting rendition of “If I Could Only Fly” and Uncle Lucius’ take on “Election Day.”
“Driving a cab in Austin and trying to make it in music brought me a lot of Blaze stories,” said Kevin Galloway of Uncle Lucius. “Blaze is this big man with the biggest heart and nobody was below him. And he was a little eccentric as South Austin is or used to be. And that’s perfectly okay. That’s what makes him what he is.”
Matthew Houck of Phosphorescent also reflected on Foley’s place in songwriting history: “I came to Blaze a while back. Like anybody who’s interested in songwriting you’re going to eventually find Lucinda, Townes Van Zandt, Blaze, Guy Clark. But Blaze was kind of a mystery to me. It wasn’t hard to capture the lonesomeness of ‘If I Could Only Fly.’ So really, it was just kind of, like, stay true to the song.”
Phosphorescent’s version of “If I Could Only Fly” opens Sittin’ With Blaze, while Lucinda Williams closes the album with her own take on the same song. Both new tracks are included below, along with the full tracklist.
Tracklist:
01 Phosphorescent – “If I Could Only Fly”
02 Willie Watson – “Big Cheeseburgers & Good French Fries”
03 Lucy Dacus – “Clay Pigeons”
04 Cactus Lee – “Sittin’ By The Road”
05 Dylan Earl – “Slow Boat To China”
06 Uncle Lucius – “Election Day”
07 Riley Downing – “Let Me Ride In Your Big Cadillac”
08 Joshua Ray Walker – “Cold, Cold World”
09 Twain – “The Way You Smile”
10 Angela Autumn – “Rainbows & Ridges”
11 John R. Miller – “Fat Boy”
12 John Moreland – “Faded Love and Memories”
13 Lucinda Williams – “If I Could Only Fly”
Sittin’ With Blaze arrives August 7 on Lost Art Records.
